Coach K's had serious health challenges as well. That's one reason Melanie's grateful that he's granted the number one wish on her bucket list. She's played basketball for UCLA and BYU, and has been a loyal Duke fan since junior high school. So, scoring tickets for Thursday is a big win for Melanie.

"The biggest game of the year to me, and most basketball fans. So I've watched that game. If I don't watch any other game, that's the game I want to watch. I wrote my bucket list. Never did I ever think that I would be going to this game!"

Her coach at BYU wrote Coach K a letter requesting a pair of tickets to the game. It was a long shot, but Duke granted his appeal. Then he invited Melanie into her old team's locker room where her husband and the current BYU players watched her joyful reaction to the news.

"For them to take the time to write a letter, to reach out to Coach K on behalf of me? I played there, I guess, 14 years ago," she said.

She's a big fan, but with the exception of television coverage, she's never seen all the Duke fans camped out in K-ville waiting for their tickets. Thursday's matchup won't be her first time inside Cameron. She's been there before, wearing a UCLA uniform.

"That was my favorite experience as a college player, playing at Cameron Indoor."